Albanian 
Prishtina, September 20, 2016 – American Chamber of Commerce in Kosovo was honored to have H.E. Greg Delawie, US Ambassador to Kosovo as a keynote speaker in the Business Ethics and Corruption roundtable.
AmCham Executive Director Arian Zeka said that challenges in law enforcement and fighting corruption are among the main factors that are hampering country’s economic development and preventing attraction of foreign direct investments. Zeka added that the reports in which our country is ranked considerably high in the assessment on corruption perception are frequent and that fight against such a phenomena would lead to increased foreign direct investments and as a result, job creation, and improvement of social welfare of Kosovo citizens.
According to Zeka, although fighting corruption may be considered a ‘mission impossible’, fighting it through legal mechanisms and strengthened business ethics enhances trust of citizens and potential investors towards state institutions, thus emphasizing that this activity is a good opportunity to tackle important issues, nonetheless, such theories should certainly be applied in practice as well.
H.E. Greg Delawie expressed his deep concerns about corruption and business ethics in Kosovo. He emphasized that rule of law, enhanced economic development and regional security are his three priority goals. Delawie emphasized that corruption is a major obstacle to democracy and rule of law as it undermines people’s trust in the political system, its institutions and its leadership; it damages security and it cripples economic development.
Ambassador Delawie stated that helping Kosovo develop its capabilities to combat corruption is a priority for the U.S. mission in Kosovo and that that they have trained almost 1,200 justice sector professionals and enlarged justice sector strengthening projects. He said he was pleased to participate in such a roundtable, willing to hear peoples’ stories and recommendations on how to fight corruption. Delawie expressed his willingness to work closely with businesses and relevant institutions as it is in the best interest of businesses and, overall, in Kosovo’s best interest.